


Pain

by DaFishi



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Azula & Zuko (Avatar) Have a Good Relationship, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Bending (Avatar), Gen, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Protective Azula (Avatar), but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:47:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28641705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaFishi/pseuds/DaFishi
Summary: Azula slowly realises feelings are like the elements, each standing for something different.She never realised how hard it was to feel any of them without Zuko by her side.
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 70





	Pain

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fmriver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fmriver/gifts).



> This wounded my feelings while I wrote it

Happiness was like the wind, Azula realized.

So easy to overdo it.

So easy to get attached to promises that were lost to the tornado of lies you let yourself believe.

Far too simple to get swept away in a current of feelings.

Pain was a stifling emotion.

Fires igniting through each of your nerves, lighting your body ablaze.

The coil of sick satisfaction curling around your heart as you inflict it on others.

The coil that squeezes so hard sometimes, it threatens to burn you from the inside.

Take the flame you’ve been keeping closest to you and let it rise and engulf you.

It was a lot like anger.

You mustn’t let anyone see you in pain and can never lash out in anger.

So your flame grows.

And grows.

And grows.

Until there is nothing left for it to burn.

But anger was more like an earthquake for Azula.

Still weather, but one plate shifts, and the earth starts to crumble.

Tremors wrack the Earth, shaking it, demolishing it.

Destruction.

Beautiful, unrefined destruction.

Anger was like ambition.

One was a drive for more, the other a passion for hate.

Both such strong carrying emotions.

But sadness was different.

It wasn’t a fire, but an icy sheet of heart wrenching despair.

Your heart feels like it’s dropped through your body and down to your feet, heart slowly encased in the frigid matter known as ice.

Hailstones assaulting your brain like tiny needles, amplifying any bitter emotion you felt.

Raindrops fall from eyes, tracing streaks down your cheek.

Dewdrops of perspiration, you try to tell yourself.

Not tears.

Just sweat from the exertion of your actions.

But like all clouds, they must open and let the rain fall eventually.

But worst of all, Azula hated guilt.

It was like none of the elements but all of them at the same times.

Earthquakes stood still, clouds disappeared, the wind stopped, and flames got snuffed out.

And all that is left is the crippling feeling known as guilt.

Azula feels waves of the emotion crash upon her as she stares at Zuko, lying limp in the sheets.

A horrible scar covers his left side because Azula couldn’t save him from their father.

A hatred bubbles in Azula’s chest.

Not to Zuko, not to herself.

But to her father.

And Azula promises herself one thing when she overhears that Zuko is going to be banished.

_ Ozai would pay, even if it was the last thing Azula ever did. _

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos please!


End file.
